Small talk
by memefriend
Summary: Sportacus enters Robbie's lair in order to retrieve a lost baseball, only to find his brother Glanni there. The two have a short conversation before Robbie comes back. [AU]


"Are you ready Stephanie?"

Sportacus leaned, reaching way back to give the baseball as much power as possible. He took a deep breath, and threw it... Way too far. The ball flew right through the sky, out of the city. The kids just stood in awe looking at the direction it flew away.

"I'm sorry guys, I think pushed it a little too far," he said, smiling apologetic to the children. "I'll go find it for you, I'll be right back!"

It ended up taking quite some time for him to locating it though, since tracking a thrown ball wasn't the easiest thing to do. No real hints to where it could be, and no way of actually tracking it properly. The only thing he could go on was the direction he'd thrown it in, and a vague thought on how hard he'd thrown it. It didn't exactly help that it was one of the hottest days of the summer either. The sun burned on his neck as he basically crawled around on all fours everywhere looking for the ball. He was sure they had another one, and if not then he could have given them one from his airship. But he felt a little bad for potentially losing theirs, especially since it most likely belonged to one of the kids. But no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't find it. Then he remembered a place where he had not checked yet; the billboard. It was fully possible that he'd thrown it that far, so there was no point to not searching for it there.

Sportacus sighed. It wasn't on the front side of it, not near any of the sides, not behind it… However, the lid to Robbie's lair was open. He leaned in, trying to see through the opening if the ball had fallen down, but couldn't see very much down the dark hole. Just waltzing in seemed like a bad idea, especially if Robbie wasn't home, but he had to take the chance. And so he did.

He slid down the slide and landed with a little roll on the floor. Sportacus squinted as he looked up the pipe, sun practically blinding him. It was going to be a little challenging to get up again, but it was probably nothing he couldn't handle. He just hoped that he'd be able to get out before Robbie came back, if he really wasn't at there at the time. Finding out that you have an uninvited guest when you're coming home didn't sound like a pleasant surprise.

A metal fan buzzed from behind him, and he turned around only to find Glanni as well as the ball lying on the floor in front of him. He was sitting in a pink, fuzzy bean bag in the middle of the room. Or lying down in it, legs considerably higher up than the rest of his body, but still kind of sitting. It was a very difficult position to put words to, let alone grasp the thought of how anyone could sit like that without severely straining their back. Robbie had told him about the bag some time ago, complaining about it quite loudly. His brother had asked him (or demanded him, he wasn't really sure when it came to those two) to sew it, and he had agreed to do it. Apparently Glanni had insisted that it needed to be filled with glitter, so the process of making the bag had resulted in Robbie having to clean up little sparkling dust all over his lair for weeks after it was done. Glitter seemed to have that long lasting effect, and nobody really understood how.

"Hello Mr. Glæpur," he said as he picked up the ball.

He didn't get any response from him, not even a muscle movement. Completely ignored, Sportacus played around a little with the baseball, tossing it up and down in his hands. He didn't really know what to say, and just walking away felt a little rude.

"I was just going to get this. The kids and I were playing some baseball, and I guess I threw it a little too long, so it fell down here." He laughed quietly, still no response from the man in the bean bag. His eyes moved from the ball to Glanni. A pair of pitch black leather pants wrapped around his long slender legs, accompanied by a plum colored turtleneck as darkly shaded as it was tight. The likes for high collars runned in the family it seemed. Not that he was one to speak. His own suit resembled the ones before him in his family line. Most of them had similar features, such as the hats, even if some were more… _chaotic_ , in terms of color palette that is. But wearing leather pants and a turtleneck on a hot day like this was perhaps even more chaotic.

"I heard you visited one of the nearby towns yesterday," he said, quite enthusiastic about it. It genuinely made him happy to hear that Glanni left the lair for a while. Sitting in one room all day wasn't really healthy. Even Robbie moved around a lot more nowadays.

"And you know this, exactly **how**?" Finally a response, though his voice was harsh.

Sportacus smile fainted a little.  
"Your brother told me."

There was a short moment of silence before Glanni opened his mouth, mumbling.

"Of course he did, why wouldn't he..." The man didn't seem to be in a very chatty mood, or in a good mood at all for that matter. Not that is was unusual for him though, Sportacus had grown used to it by now.

"So...did you and your friends have fun?"  
Glanni snorted, somewhat amused by the question.  
"...You didn't?" Sportacus' eyebrows pulled together in a confused expression.

"Oh trust me, we had a lot of fun," he said as a smug smile spread across his face. Glanni's eyes fell on him for the first time since he entered the lair, adjusting his seat and now facing towards him. "It's always a pleasure to have some lady company."

"Ah, do you have many girl friends?"

A loud laughter emitted from Glanni's throat, making Sportacus even more puzzled than before.  
"Why yes, I guess you could say that," he said, giggling quietly.

There was something so different about him, his whole aura. He gave him this feeling that Sportacus just couldn't make out what it was, or why he got it. The only thing he was certain of was that he didn't particularly like it. In fact, he felt slightly uncomfortable in his presence. At least when they were alone. Whenever his brother was around it he felt a little bit more relaxed, even though they had a habit of nagging on each other constantly.

Glanni slowly got up from his bean bag, face frowning a little. Maybe he suffered from similar back pain as Robbie, which wouldn't be surprising considering their choice of 'beds'. His frown quickly disappeared though, exchanged for a rather arrogant grin instead.  
"I have a lot of _**boy**_ friends as well, if that's interesting information to you."

"That's great! Having a wide variety of friends is nice."

Glanni let out a laugh, though this time he tried to muffle it a bit.  
"It is, isn't it?"

Walking forward, taking small steps at a time, he inspected the athletic man in front of him.  
"Tell me; do _you_ have any 'friends'?"

Sportacus smiled, nodding while answering.  
"Of course, the kids and I-"  
Glanni interrupted him mid sentence.  
"No, let me rephrase that; Do you have any **adult** ' _friends_ '?"  
Sportacus bobbed his head to the side.  
"I have Rob-"  
"He doesn't count."

Once again Sportacus fell into confusion. He should have just taken the ball and left, dodging Glanni's interrogation or whatever this was. But then again, _**rude**_. Maybe Glanni was just curious, maybe he just wanted to make sure that he had friends as well. It wasn't like him, not one bit, but perhaps he was actually trying to be nice for once.

"I'm sure my ladies wouldn't mind me bringing you with me next time," Glanni purred, his gaze running up and down the hero.

"That's very kind of you Glanni, but I'm not sure-"  
"That they'll like you? Oh you bet they will."  
"No, it's just-"  
"You prefer guys?"  
"No no, that doesn't matter-"  
"So you'll come?"  
"No, I-"  
Glanni frowned, turning away from him.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they are very nice Glanni, but I don't even know who you're talking about?" Sportacus tried to smile to the best of his abilities, but he looked more like he was in minor pain. Glanni heaved out a deep sigh, clearly frustrated.

"I mean, we've known each other for quite some time now and I barely know anything about you yet. Maybe **we** should become better friends before you introduce me?"

A small sneer of a smile spread on Glanni's face, looking at the blue dressed man with a certain delight in his eyes.

"Of course. Why don't you sit down for a moment? We could have a little chit chat," he said, gesticulating towards the fuzzy bean bag. Sportacus hesitated to answer for a brief moment, not sure why. There was an uneasy feeling lingering inside him that he just couldn't shake off, but he didn't find a reason for it.

"I think I prefer standing, actually." He glanced up at the towering man in front of him with an insecure tiny smile on his lips. He looked a lot like his brother, yet also very different. A lot sharper, despite his round features. The short, rugged hair, the contoured lips, his… fashion sense. Somehow he managed to make Robbie look like a good guy in comparison - which he also was, given some time and caring. Perhaps that was all Glanni needed too, some time.

"Lovely facial hair you sprout there honey." He returned from being lost in his thoughts somewhat startled, not quite catching what Glanni said. The man just chuckled a little in response, twirling the tip of the hero's mustache. "It's kind of hot."

There it was, that uneasy feeling again. Sportacus cleared his throat a little.  
"Excuse me?"

"It's hot," Glanni began, "in here, don't you think?" He was right about that, it was hot in there. The sunrays that managed to reach into the lair did their part, and for being such a huge room it wasn't that well ventilated. The weak breezes that blew from the metal fan did help to cool the room a little, but only if you stood in front of it, which Sportacus didn't. Tiny droplets of sweat pearled on his forehead, something Glanni couldn't help but notice.

"Running around in a warm vest on a hot summer day like this isn't really optimal now is it?"  
"I guess not? But you're wearing leather pants?"  
"You're suggesting I take them off?"  
"Nonono, I just-"  
"Let me take this thing off you before you get a heatstroke."

Glanni laid one of his hands on top of Sportacus' chest, gripping the case holding the vest together. There was a little bit of resistance in Sportacus as he took hold of it. It was after all quite personal to him, considering that's where one of his most valuable possession were located. Glanni suddenly flinched away with a frightened gasp. The case had opened while Glanni tried to figure out a way to take off the vest. A small chuckle left Sportacus as he detached the crystal from his suit. He didn't feel too good about handing it over, but he still did it. A show of trust, one could say, even if he didn't trust Robbie's brother at all. But if it could help him and Glanni build some sort of connection it was worth a try.

"Oh, it...I didn't really expect that." Glanni laughed nervously, still a bit shocked. With a certain surprise in his face, Glanni accepted the shiny object given to him, staring at it with raised eyebrows. He didn't do anything with it, just looked at it. Then his eyes quickly rose from the crystal in his hand to meet Sportacus', a sinister gleam emitting from them with smug smile on his face.

"Do you spread open as fast as this thing when you're touched as well?"

"I'm…not sure I understand?" No lies. He didn't understand Glanni at all. A strange man with a strange way of speaking, embedding his words and intentions in such a way that it was just straight out confusing to him. He rarely got the point, just a lot to think about when alone.

Glanni grabbed one of his hands, pulling it closer to him. A chill went down Sportacus' spine. Such a cold touch, not anywhere near the warmth of his brother's hands. Carefully, Glanni placed the crystal in his palm, closing his hand gently.

"So _ridiculously_ clueless..."

And with those words he walked back to his bean bag, leaving Sportacus blinking his eyes in confusion. He didn't say anything in reply, just stood there with the baseball in one hand and the crystal in the other, not sure of what had just happened. Then he caught sight of a familiar silhouette closing in. He quickly clicked his crystal in place again.

"Hi Robbie!"

The tall man flinched at the sudden call, and had obviously not noticed him until now. His rigid posture loosened up a bit at the sight of the hero, and he raised his hand with a small sigh. "Hello Sportacus." Then _he_ was the one being confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was just getting this," he began, pointing at the ball in his hand, "then Glanni and I started talking and-"

" _ **You**_ two were talking?!" Robbie couldn't believe his ears. Glanni _hated_ that blue elf, absolutely _hated_ him, and now they were just chilling around, talking? His brother took obvious offence of his words, snorting loudly.

"Yes we were. We were having a nice little conversation, and then you came home and interrupted us."

Ice cold reply from Glanni. Sportacus didn't really know what to do then and there. It's not like Robbie actually cut them off, Glanni had already done that before his brother arrived. But something told Sportacus that it might not be the best idea to bring this up, so instead he stayed quiet. He looked at the ball in his hands.

"Uhm...I think I'll just, go back to the kids. I'm sure they're waiting for me," he said, smiling a little while facing the brothers. "I'll see you guys later."

He was just about to exit the lair as Glanni called him.  
"If you change your mind, you know where to find me. My ladies and I'll be waiting."

Glanni followed him with his eyes climbing up the pipe until he were no longer visible. Takes quite some strength to do something like that, yet he made it look so simple. His brother glared at him. He didn't utter a word, but his expression pretty much spoke for itself. The only thing filling the silence was the buzz of the fan.

"It was a joke," Glanni muttered as he got up and started making his way to Robbie's outfit tubes. Then a teasing smile spread. "...Or maybe it wasn't?"

He quickly ran up the stairs and stopped, leaning over the steel handrail with a grin on his face. "Hooking up with the same people does get boring with time, I could use a new ' _friend_ '."

Robbie groaned, clearly frustrated. Glanni just laughed at his reaction, trotting down the catwalk of disguises, awfully pleased of himself. "Don't worry, I'm just kidding."  
He froze and turned around dramatically to his brother, pulling an exaggerated face of shock. " _Or am I?_ "

" **GLANNI!** " Robbie clenched his fists, stomping his feet on the ground in pure aggravation. His brother rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"I won't steal your boyfriend so stop acting like a child. It's annoying."

Robbie huffed out the last of his anger, sulking with arms crossed on his chest.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"He's a _**boy**_ and he's your _**friend**_ \- boyfriend," Glanni said as he cleaned some dirt off his nails. Robbie just shaked his head, looking at him confound with minor irritation. Glanni sneered. "Mom should have seen you, crushing on an _elf_."

"Don't bring mother into this." Robbie blushed, raising a finger in the air then pointed at his brother. "Besides, **I'm** not the one inviting him to private parties with ladies."

"True," Glanni stated, "and that's why mom loved me more than you, chicken."


End file.
